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Here's a wild speculation:

What if Facebook is only doing this to people it profiles as non-technical and therefore unlikely to notice it?

Taking the app apart might not even be good enough since in that case those not receiving surveillance may not even have the code for surveillance. (Apple's store technically bans such practices, but this is Facebook we're talking about.)

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I once joked with my friends about something similar to this. The best target audience to attempt something like this one would be people who are really big into conspiracy theory's and would have any attempts to bring something like this to light immediately shot down due to their other beliefs. It would be pretty simple for facebook to flag users that match a profile like this just off their likes and profile activity!

One of the best ways to cover something up is to have someone with "negative credibility" break the story. There's been a persistent rumor for years that some tabloids have ties to intelligence agencies and pretty much exist for this purpose.

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